Preamble/disclaimer: This post is neither about the military record of Sergeant Bergdahl, nor about the nature of his capture, nor about the question of the law the president allegedly violated, nor about the constitutionality of said law. Look elsewhere – including elsewhere on this blog – for those issues to be address. This is about the affect of the Bergdahl-Taliban trade on the people of Afghanistan…
…the people who, it should be noted, braved enemy attacks less than two months ago to cast votes for their new leader. That leader is, as of yet, unelected (Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani-Ahmadzai are competing in a run-off to be held on June 24), but his people were callously and dangerously thrown under the bus by Obama’s actions this week.
To understand why this is such an outrage, keep in mind the president’s initial explanation when pushed on this earlier this week. The Washington Times caught most of what he said, but the key clanger was this:
This is what happens at the end of wars.
There’s only one problem with that: the war with the Taliban is not over…not by a longshot.
The people of Afghanistan – you remember them, don’t you? – will still have to fight the Taliban after we’ve gone. That’s why both of the run-off candidates for president (who between them won over 3/4 of the vote – IEC) openly supported a deal to keep American troops in the country (Salem News).
You read that right: the nation that supposedly hates foreigners voted to ask us to stay.
The President’s response: Drop Dead.
I would humbly submit my opinion that the timing was no accident, but not for the reasons put forth by others. It is not our election timetable that concerned Obama, it was Afghanistan’s. With the election still up in the air (and the highly unpopular and increasingly Talib-friendly Hamid Karzai playing out the string), it was likely easier to get this done now than with a new president more eager to fight the Taliban.
Now, that new president (whichever of the two candidates it may be) will know that some of the most high-profile Taliban members are free to wage war against the Afghan people…again.
Lest we forget, there was a resistance to the Taliban throughout its reign of terror in Afghanistan (Abdullah himself was a part of it). One of its critical leaders – Ahmed Shah Massoud, the “Lion of Panjshir” – was assassinated two days before 9/11, and I refuse to believe that was a coincidence.
Barack Obama may think he can just tidy up the war and move on. Others may disagree. But the Afghan people don’t have that luxury. The war for them will continue, and for them, this is a terrible setback.
Whatever else the president did with the Bergdahl-Taliban deal, he weakened an ally.
